We needed a scenario for our Tuesday horse-and-musket game, and the current issue (No.128) of “Wargames Soldiers and Strategy” magazine had one that was just right.
To quote the magazine: “The Battle of Caldiero was a hard-fought encounter between Napoleon and Alvinzcy a few days before Arcola. This was a battle affected by snow, sleet, and mud, and one in which the Austrian advanced guard fought stubbornly against Napoleon’s attempt to crush them before reinforcements arrived.”
We adapted the scenario to our chosen rule set, Bloody Big Battles. The first task was to determine the figure scale. As this was a rather small battle, we decided to use a scale of 200 men per base of infantry, 120 men per cavalry base, and 8 guns per artillery base. Each infantry unit was four bases and represented a battalion, while the cavalry units were 3-5 bases and represented regiments.
The next step was to rate the units. Since both sides historically fought hard, we rated all the units as Veteran, which gave them good stamina. All the French infantry could Skirmish, but only the Austrian units with Grenzers could Skirmish. One infantry unit on each side was rated Aggressive, which gave a bonus in close combat. Additionally, we ruled that Austrian infantry units could not use the Supported Line formation (which is basically an attack column at this scale), to reflect their linear doctrine in this period.
We usually apply the Tactically Inept rating to all close order infantry units in this period to reflect their vulnerability to shooting, but we did not use it in this scenario in order to simulate the effect of bad weather and poor visibility. Further, on each side’s turn a D6 was rolled, and on a roll of 5-6, the weather would be really nasty. Activation rolls on those turns would suffer a -1 penalty, and all units would be considered to be in light cover when shot at.
The terrain effects were as follows: All the slopes were steep. All the villages afforded a +1 defense. The vineyards and woods were rough going. We only represented the good roads, which provided a bonus to movement. The Austrians had two redoubts for their artillery, which were rated as +2 defense.
Our 6X5′ table was laid with the long axis running east-west, and the terrain was set up according to the scenario map. The key terrain was a long ridge that ran about 2/3 the length of the table, with flat ground on the western end. Off the western end of the ridge was the village of Caldiero, which was one objective. On the eastern end of the ridge was the village of Colognola, which was the other objective.
To win, the French had to capture and hold both objectives at the end of the game, which was 12 tuns long.
The Austrian Advanced Guard under Hohenzollern set up first, facing north, and generally adhered to the historical deployment. One artillery redoubt was on a knoll behind Caldiero, supported by a Grenzer battalion and two cavalry regiments. Two infantry battalions occupied the villages of Caldiero and Stra. The remainder of the infantry was strung out along the ridge, with the second artillery redoubt in the center. The village of Colognola held an infantry battalion, and a cavalry regiment was on the extreme right of the line. This was a very thin defense, and the Austrians were hoping that their reinforcements would soon arrive!
The French were set up on northern side of the table in their historical deployment areas, with Augereau’s division on the French right, facing Caldiero, and Massena’s division on the left, facing the ridge. Dumas’ cavalry reserve entered the table behind Augereau.
Augereau’s division advanced rapidly and successfully stormed Stra and Caldiero. The Austrians regrouped and counterattacked, which briefly checked the French. Then the Austrian cavalry was outnumbered and outflanked by Duma’s cavalry, and soon all the units on the Austrian left were battered and falling back.
On the other flank, Massena’s division was making very slow going through a large vineyard (modeled with crop fields on our table), under fire from the Austrian artillery on the ridge. One disrupted battalion was forced to retire due to a poor rally roll. Massena’s division staggered out the vineyard and made a piecemeal attack on an Austrian Grenzer battalion holding a wood near Colgnola, which was repulsed. After rallying and bringing up more units, a second attempt to carry the ridge was also repulsed. Massena had a tough fight on his hands!
On Turn 4, the first Austrian reinforcements arrived on the Austrian baseline, which were a brigade led by Alvincy himself. The Austrians commanders held a brief council of war, and decided to direct this force toward Colognola, hoping to get there before Massena could organize a stronger attack.
Meanwhile, Augerau’s and Dumas’ forces were continuing to press the Austrian left, trying to gain as much ground as possible before more Austrians arrived. On Turns 5 and 6, Schuberz’s brigade, followed by Provera’s column, arrived and moved to support the Austrian left. Soon they were engaged with Augereau’s leading units. The fresh Austrian forces swiftly gained the upper hand, and relentlessly pressed the French back toward Caldiero. Within a few turns, they were at the gates of Caldiero itself, although the first assault on the village was repulsed. As the final turn of the game approached, Caldiero was still in French hands, but was surrounded on three sides.
Late in the game, Massena’s division finally began to make good progress. The Austrians had pulled some battalions away from the center of the ridge to support their left, and this weakened their defense in this sector. Some of Massena’s battalions successfully assaulted and swept the defenders from the center of the ridge. In the pursuit, the Austrian battery was overrun, and Alvincy was captured!
The French were also able to evict the Grenzer battalion from the wood near Colognola, which enabled Massena to mass some battalions and a cavalry regiment against Colognola, which had been reinforced by Alvincy’s troops. Recognizing the criticality of this attack, Bonaparte himself moved to this flank to assist Massena with coordinating the final assault.
The assault against Colognola went in on the final turn. The French cavalry attacked the supporting Austrian cavalry in the rear, while the Aggressive French Legere battalion attacked uphill against the front of the village, supported by a second Legere battalion. If the French cavalry could have won their fight and exploited, they would have tipped the odds toward the French in the fight for the village. But the French cavalry rolled poorly and lost the combat. This left the Austrian cavalry in support of the village’s defenders, and the odds heavily favored the defense. When the French Leger rolled a 2, it was all over. Napoleon had been handed his first defeat!
With the Austrian victory in hand, the Austrian commanders passed their final turn, and the game was over. After an intense battle, the final butcher’s bill for both sides was about even. It had been a long afternoon, and it was time for the pub!
- TJ
Those revolutionary French with their Polish and Italian allies make for a lovely army. Great report!